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QMI Agency

Add the Pittsburgh Penguins to the list of teams Jaromir Jagr is considering playing for next season.

Jagr, 39, has reached out to the Penguins about a return to his original NHL team, sources told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Monday.

Jagr, 39, has played the past three seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League.

He confirmed last week he wants to come back to the NHL, with the Detroit Red Wings being a leading candidate, followed by the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers.

Jagr played for the Penguins from 1990 to 2001, winning five scoring titles and helping them to two Stanley Cup wins.

NHL cap takes off

The NHL salary cap is going up by more than 7.7% next season.

The ceiling will be $64 million, according to TSN -- up $4.6 million from the 2010-11 season -- with the bottom end at $48 million.

The cap -- entering Season 7 under the collective bargaining agreement -- has risen every year since the end of the NHL lockout in 2005 when it was set at $39 million.

The salary hike is good news for the big spenders. The Philadelphia Flyers, for instance, who were within $500,000 of the old cap likely now have wiggle room to sign goalie Ilya Bryzgalov without having to deal a key player to create cap space.

But the $48-million minimum -- up from $43.4 million last season -- is not good for teams on a tight budget.

BRIEFLY: The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed defenceman Nick Holden to a one-year, two-way contract. He played five games with the Blue Jackets last season. The 24-year-old from St. Albert, Alta., has 14 goals and 56 assists in 197 career AHL games.